Archive for March 2010

March 30: Jonah (Michael Rady) plans a big party in the Melrose courtyard to celebrate the sale of his script. Little does he realize his shindig will be the site where some long-simmering secrets will come to a boil. David (Shaun Sipos) is still trying to find out why Lauren (Stephanie Jacobsen) dumped him, but she’s not confiding in anyone, not even Ella. Michael (Thomas Calabro) makes things worse for Lauren by pressuring her into making good on their aborted “date.” In what has to be the blondest episode of Melrose to date, several original Melrose Place residents make return visits. Guest Blonde Jane Andrews (Josie Bissett), still steaming over Resident Blonde Ella’s switcheroo of her designer gown on a movie star at a movie premiere in the fall, demands to know why Bitchy Blonde Amanda has yet to fire her from WPK. Amanda (Heather Locklear) assures her that Ella will soon get her comeuppance. At Coal, David is preparing to cater Jonah’s party when New Blonde Morgan (Melissa Ordway) surprises him with a watch she stole from her mobster dad. When David tries to squirm out of her eager come-ons, she tightens the collar around his neck by threatening to tell her scary pop about David’s theft of her mom’s diamond ring. The girl gives new meaning to the term demanding. Drew (Nick Zano) convinces Riley (Jessica Lucas) to help him shop for toys for the pediatric patients at the hospital and charms her slowly but surely. Jonah’s not sure he likes what’s developing between the two.

Amanda and Michael's schemes caused havoc for the Melrosers.

“Punch Drunk”

At WPK, Ella (Katie Cassidy) notices that some billing figures on her accounts aren’t adding up correctly and starts checking up on her projects. Dropping in on Jo Reynolds (Daphne Zuniga) during a photo shoot for W Magazine, she learns that a check to Jo was overstated by ten times in the WPK books! Is someone framing Ella for embezzlement? Speaking of Amanda (wink, wink), the Empress of WPK tries a new tack in tracking down the artwork that may dig her out of the money hole she’s in. Hoping to loosen lips among the Melrosers, she generously tips the bartender at Jonah’s party to give the guests especially potent drinks while she pumps them for information one by one. Her plan works better than expected as Melrosers past and present overindulge in bad behavior. Jonah challenges Drew to a game of beer pong and the inebriated duo end up duking it out over Riley in the Melrose pool (where else?). A reunion of original residents Jo, Jane, Michael and Amanda is a tepid affair. “Let’s do it again in ten years,” says Amanda. Let’s not. At least Jane is smart enough to reject a horny Michael, who stalks Lauren so relentlessly that she breaks down and confesses her hooking career to her neighbors. David is aghast. Ella, meanwhile, confides in Amanda that she thinks there’s an embezzler at WPK and later overhears Jo confronting Amanda about being the culprit. Amanda interrupts Morgan’s latest mauling of David to pump him for more information about Sydney’s missing art and he gives her a new lead: Syd gave one of her pieces (among other things) to Auggie. The next morning, Lauren confesses her love to an unresponsive David while Drew sneaks into the hospital morgue to slice into a rather handsome cadaver (this is the CW Network, after all). Organ harvesting, anyone? Amanda summons Ella to WPK and lowers the boom on her by accusing her of embezzlement. Ella had better think of something quick, because, as Amanda puts it, “You, my dear, do not have the curves to pull off a prison jumpsuit.”

Melrose Place’s tech-savvy publicist Ella Simms spends a lot of time on her cell phone, but she’s too smart to endanger herself by texting while driving. This is a message that will come across on the March 30 episode, which includes a scene where Our Miss Simms abandons this potentially lethal habit. Immediately after the episode, Ella’s portrayer, Katie Cassidy, joins co-star Michael Rady (Jonah) in a public service announcement from AT&T warning viewers about the dangers of texting while driving. It’s part of a major campaign launched by the communications giant to fight the growing threat of this practice, which has joined drinking and driving as a danger on our roads. America is text crazy. Statistics from AT&T show that 457 billion text messages crossed their network last year compared to about 243 billion in 2008. Everything has its place, however, and AT&T’s clever campaign “Txting and Drivng… it can wait” is spot on. I personally always ask people whether they’re driving when they call me. It makes me uncomfortable to think I may be distracting someone when their attention should be on the road, so I applaud this effort. Using Ella to deliver the message is especially smart given we Melrosers hang on her every word. It doesn’t hurt that Katie and Jonah look super-cute in the spot, too. To support AT&T’s campaign, visit them at Facebook here.

Are Jo, Michael and Jane anticipating a bitchy welcome from Amanda? Is the Pope Catholic?

Fans of the original Melrose Place will finally get what they’ve been waiting for on the March 30 episode — a reunion of Melrosers Josie Bissett (Jane), Daphne Zuniga (Jo), Thomas Calabro (Michael) and Heather Locklear (Amanda). From the looks of the photo The CW Network posted to its website and the Melrose Facebook page, the reunion is going to be a happy one. The veterans will probably share a laugh over the dramas of the newbies and will reminisce about the good old days. Were the ’90s really that long ago? Josie strikes me as the most well preserved among the ladies, but then I think she’s one of the younger cast members from the original crew. Ella (Katie Cassidy) and Lauren (Stephanie Jacobsen) look dressed to kill while Drew (Nick Zano) and Riley (Jessica Lucas) cozy up in the Melrose pool. Does Drew own any shirts, anyway? For more preview pics, visit the CW’s Melrose site here.

March 23: Love is in full bloom at Melrose Place as Jonah (Michael Rady) surprises Ella (Katie Cassidy) with a home-cooked meal, David shows up unannounced at the hospital with burgers and fries for Lauren, and Ben (Billy Campbell) puts the moves on Riley during a business trip to Washington D.C. Their kiss makes Riley guilty. Ben, however, makes a beeline for Amanda’s apartment to break up with her. Smelling a rat, Amanda (Heather Locklear) puts a tail on him and fumes when she gets photos of Riley and Ben kissing merely hours after he dumped her designer-clad butt. When Amanda confronts Riley (Jessica Lucas) with the photos, she’s justifiably mortified. Watch your back, Riley! David (Shaun Sipos) is determined to turn over a new leaf by buying Coal but is short several million dollars of the seller’s asking price. He cases out a diamond ring that he figures will make up for his shortfall. His newest caper comes as a welcome diversion after Lauren (Stephanie Jacobsen) breaks up with him, giving in to Michael’s blackmail. After Lauren seemingly exits his life, David starts getting attention from L.A.’s blonde bombshells. Amanda, still searching for Sydney’s priceless painting, shows up at his place to return mail mistakenly delivered to her apartment and notices his impressive collection with one piece catching her eye in particular. When Amanda’s henchman later swaps the painting for a copy, she uses paint thinner to uncover what’s underneath but comes up empty… again. David gets caught breaking into the mansion to steal the priceless diamond by a gorgeous, and eager, blonde named Morgan (Melissa Ordway). Although he tries to bluff his way out of his predicament, the wily hottie opts to let him leave with the ring, putting him in her debt. After David informs his Melrose neighbors that he’s bought Coal, he gets home to find Morgan waiting to call in her sexy IOU. Blackmail never felt so good!

The Melrose men played a game of beefcake basketball.

Drew Pragin: Relationship Expert

Melrose’s newest resident Drew Pragin (Nick Zano) quickly makes his presence felt in all quarters. He joins David and Jonah in the Melrose pool for a game of shirtless water basketball (!!!). He annoys Lauren with his frat-boy pranks at the hospital, but later joins forces with Riley to bring her out of her post-breakup depression. The multitalented Drew also shows up playing in a band entertaining the guests at a birthday party for a dog thrown by one of Jonah’s industry friends. When Ella balks at Jonah’s public displays of affection and possessiveness while they network at the party, Drew advises him to accept her as the unconventional girlfriend who may be better for him than safe, predictable Riley. Drew has an agenda of his own, of course, when it comes to Riley and his interest in her will lead to a scuffle between him and Jonah in next week’s episode. Stay tuned, Melrosers.

Melrose Place has only four episodes left to prove itself worthy of renewal for another season so fans need to rise up and be counted! I’m doing my best to put Melrose out into the blogosphere and encourage fans to post pictures on Facebook and watch the fun YouTube tribute videos. Melrose fans may not yet be as numerous as American Idol followers, but we’re certainly creative. As it happens, I’m trying to go viral and spread the Melrose love with my own tribute video on YouTube focusing on those romantic entanglements of our favorite Melrosers. Ella fans should be pleased. Plenty of fashion shots to ogle. LOL. With apologies to Lady Gaga, it’s called Melrose Place’s Bad Romances and can be seen here.

Ella (Katie Cassidy) may have gotten her man, but from the looks of the CW’s new teaser clip on YouTube it looks like the whole boyfriend-girlfriend thing is gonna take some getting used to. Jonah (Michael Rady) takes her to a birthday party thrown by one of his industry friends where she winces when he tries to hold hands with her and introduces her as his girlfriend rather than his publicist. Ella, decked out in Balenciaga, her customary killer shoes and the designer bag of the moment, discovers the guest of honor is a pooch. Like the pro she is, she pays proper respects to the canine cutie, then promptly asks for some hand sanitizer!

Will a broke Amanda marry Ben's millions before Riley steals him away?

The Vulture in Versace

March 16: Jonah parties hard with Ella, David and Lauren to celebrate selling his movie script. Despite all of Ella’s help in making his dream come true, a sloshed Jonah still doubts that she can compare morally with goody-goody Riley. Ella (Katie Cassidy) is too busy turning Jonah (Michael Rady) into a star to notice this slight, placing the news of his movie deal in the top showbiz trade publications. As usual, the Melrose writers are very thorough scripting Ella’s industry scenes, even having her mention the fearsome Hollywood blogger Nikki Finke as she shares the good news with her holier-than-thou crush. Ella fans shake their collective heads as our golden girl even nabs Jonah’s dream actor, Owen Anderson, for the role based on him. He’s got a lot of nerve judging her! When Owen insists on meeting the woman who inspired the female lead in the script, Ella doesn’t hesitate to ask Riley (Jessica Lucas) to put her hurt feelings aside to meet with the method actor and support Jonah’s career. Riley plays along at first, but her anger gets the best of her and she tells Owen that she and Jonah are splitsville, referring to Ella as the Versace-clad vulture responsible for the split. Owen loses interest in the role. Ella and Riley have it out over Jonah and Riley’s bitter words cut Ella deeply. When a humbled Ella encourages Jonah to reconcile with Riley, Jonah finally gets a clue and realizes he’s been selling Miss Simms short. He wisely stays put and resumes his passionate new relationship with the pretty publicist.

Can Drew make Riley forget Jonah?

Father’s Day

Riley may have her choice of men now. Hunky Dr. Drew Pragin (Nick Zano) flirts with her after moving into Auggie’s pad and starting his new job working with Lauren and Michael. Amanda’s beau Ben (Billy Campbell) takes a liking to Riley, too, and agrees to fund her proposed inner-city boarding school project through his education foundation, much to Amanda’s dismay. She has reason to be concerned. Previews for next week’s episode indicate Ben will seek fringe benefits with the seemingly irresistible Riley. Amanda (Heather Locklear) also has big money worries (as I suspected). She’s in the hole for $15 million and is endangering WPK in her efforts to stay afloat while searching for the missing artwork. All the stress is giving her anxiety attacks that have her running to Michael, who helps her out with a prescription for anti-stress medication (holy middle age!). Michael isn’t having a very good day either. His mounting guilt over his role in the deaths of Sydney and Vanessa make him reckless at the hospital, which almost kills a patient before Lauren intervenes. Later, David (Shaun Sipos) visits him with the news that Vanessa left him a letter revealing that Noah is actually David’s son from a fling they had prior to her meeting Michael. The men’s confrontation ends in their coming to blows. When the Melrosers convene in the courtyard to welcome new neighbor Drew, Lauren (Stephanie Jacobsen) is called away by madam Wendy (Kelly Carlson) to do one last hooking job. When Lauren shows up in a sausage dress for her appointment, her two careers finally collide as her john turns out to be Michael! He promptly blackmails her into breaking up with David to make him suffer for ruining his dad’s life. How will she worm her way out of this one?